Support the end of modern slavery – or risk being named and shamed
22 October 2018
The Home Office has announced that they will be writing directly to chief executives of 17,000 businesses.
The letter will be reminding them to comply with the reporting requirements about modern slavery in their supply chains, or risk being named as being in breach of the law.
Businesses with a turnover of more than £36 million must publish annual transparency statements, known as a Modern Slavery Statement, setting out what they are doing to stop modern slavery and forced labour practices occurring in their business and supply chains.
It is estimated that only 60% of employers who should comply with the reporting requirements are currently doing so.
Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability Victoria Atkins said:
“It is horrible to think some of the goods and services we buy could have been produced by someone forced into modern slavery. This is abhorrent and as global leaders in the fight against modern slavery, we will not tolerate it.
“Some businesses are already leading the way in taking action by being open and transparent about what they are doing to identify, tackle and prevent forced labour in their supply chains, but too many are still failing to meet their basic legal obligations.
“That’s why the Home Office is sending letters to businesses today with a clear message that continued non-compliance will not be tolerated.”
This announcement comes as the Government publish the 2018 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery which details the actions that the UK Government, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive have taken over the last year to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking.
In the year to March 2018, police in England and Wales recorded 3,337 modern slavery offences, a 49% increase on the previous year. Police in Scotland recorded 60 offences and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) recorded 31 offences.
Published in 2014, the Modern Slavery Strategy of the UK Government is based on the ‘four Ps’ structure, Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare. This is the same approach taken by the Home Office to tackle terrorism and serious and organised crime.
The Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive use a different strategic framework to organise their work, however, in this report for reader’s convenience, actions are grouped by all jurisdictions under the ‘four Ps’ structure.